Men's Hockey End of the Season Awards

With the frozen four looming and Terrier fans sitting at home cursing the TV every time ESPNU shows highlights of BC's NCAA title run last season, I figured this was as good a time as any to reveal my choices for some end of season awards. I did this at the end of last season as well, and it was relatively fun - mostly because I can just make stuff up and not do any research.

Team MVP (last year's winner - Eric Gryba)
This one is relatively easy - Kieran Millan.  While Kieran did not have the most outstanding season numbers-wise, his role on the team was of the utmost importance and without him, BU would not have won nearly as many games this season. On the year, he totaled 1085 saves on 1180 shots, rendering a save percentage of .919 (up from .891 last season) and a goals against average of 2.68 (improving from 3.15 last season).  What makes this increase in performance even more impressive is that he did it with a relatively young defense in front of him - two freshman, one redshirt sophomore, two actual sophomores and a junior.  Only Dave Warsofksy, the junior, was left from Kieran's outstanding freshman year in 2008-2009. Kieran is expected to be back for his senior season next year, a good sign for a young Terrier team who will need steady, veteran goaltending.

7th Man Award (a.k.a. Unsung Hero) (last year's winner - Zach Cohen)
Another easy one for me to pick - Joe Pereira.  Senior co-captain Joey P played his heart out throughout his senior season and saw an upturn in production as a result.  After scoring only 5 goals last season, Pereira popped in 15 during the '10-'11 campaign to go along with 6 assists.  While he was certainly never the most skilled guy on the ice, he made up for it by being the hardest working guy on the ice every time he left the bench.  We were at the BSRSB always have liked "Bulldog" as he was known, and wish him the best where ever he happens to end up.

Rookie of the Year (last year's winner - Alex Chiasson)
This one is a little tougher, and as such I'm splitting the award between two guys - Charlie Coyle and Adam Clendening.  Coyle was probably the higher touted of the two coming into this season, after being picked in the first round of the NHL draft by the San Jose Sharks.  He backed up the hype by tallying 26 points on the year on 7 goals and 19 assists. Clendening tallied the same number of points as Coyle, potting 5 goals and adding 21 assists.  Coyle had the better first half of the two players, while Clendening finished the season strong.  Both will be looked upon next season for points and leadership as this young Terrier team will look to grow into a contender.

Best Offensively (last year's winner - Nick Bonino)
The award for most points goes to everybody's favorite french canadian - Alex Chiasson.  The sophomore added 15 points from his freshman year total of 19 to give him 34 points on the year (14g, 20a).  While he wasn't a dominant offensive force out there all the time, he certainly was our biggest threat to score every time he was on the ice. If he can add another 15 points on next season, I think we can start talking Hobey for our good buddy Chaser.

Best Defensively (last year's winner - Eric Gryba)
Although this award is significantly harder to measure than some of the other awards, I think the rest of the guys here will agree when I give this one to freshman Garrett Noonan.  Noonan was one of the biggest surprises for me this season.  He was signed late in the recruiting process shortly after Colby Cohen left early to sign, and was sort of lost in the shuffle among A-list recruits like Coyle, Clendening, and Nieto.  But Noonan let his impact be felt early, playing a very simple defensive game and not taking too many chances by jumping into the offense when he shouldn't.  He isn't afraid to take the body and certainly isn't afraid of a jawing before and after the whistle.  The one knock against Noonan is that he tends to take dumb penalties sometimes, but I think that is something that will change as he progresses here at BU.

That's all the awards I have for you for now.  I'll be doing a recap of my thoughts on the Terriers season in the next couple of days, so be on the lookout for that.